Editorial: Government shutdown costs $160 million a day

Maj. Dan Brewer of the Washington Army National Guard closes the hangar door of a vehicle maintenance facility at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., that is closed due to the federal government shutdown.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the partial government shutdown, now in its third workweek, is how stupendously counterproductive the whole exercise has been.

The temporary defunding of numerous federal agencies, which Senate negotiators were working to bring to an end, is not even saving money. This shutdown is costing the nation at least $160 million a day, according to the IHS Inc. market-research firm.

Most perversely, the House has already voted to provide back pay to roughly 800,000 "nonessential" federal workers who, through no fault of their own, were told to stay home starting Oct. 1. The Senate and President Barack Obama are expected to agree, which means the government would be paying people not to work.

Didn't Republicans spend years pushing for welfare reform, arguing that you shouldn't pay people not to work? And if warring Republicans and Democrats can agree - unanimously in the House - to pay federal workers, wouldn't it make sense to agree to bring them back and pay them to actually work?

Of course it would, but the pay-for-not-working absurdity fits right in with other shutdown-related decisions, major and minor, that give new meaning to the term pointless:

? The government has barred people not only from visiting national parks and monuments, but also from looking at them. From Virginia's George Washington Memorial Parkway to South Dakota's Mount Rushmore, scenic overlooks have been blocked so tourists can't pull off the road and take in the beauty. Never mind that these places require no employees, have no gates and cost nothing to keep open. In fact, it costs more to put up barricades.

? The administration has forced restaurants, inns, campgrounds and recreation areas - private businesses on federal lands - to close, a double whammy that puts people out of work, hurting the economy and forfeiting the rent these businesses pay the government. Many workers live on the grounds, so they've been put out of their homes, according to Warren Meyer, owner of Recreation Resource Management. Nearly 100 of his firm's campgrounds, which usually generate $150,000 in federal rent in October, are closed.

? The government's key tool for spotting and tracking the source of food-borne illnesses was shut down for days, while a dangerous outbreak of salmonella from raw chicken spread to 20 states. The outbreak has sickened 317 victims and put more than 40 percent of them in hospitals - no doubt raising the nation's health care bill. The employees who run PulseNet, the national network of public health labs that detects trends, were originally deemed "non-essential" and furloughed. They've been recalled, but the damage is done.

? The longer the shutdown goes on, the greater the damage. Government contractors are getting furloughed; they won't get back pay. Homebuyers can't get mortgages if the IRS doesn't verify their incomes. Airliners won't remain safe if federal inspections lag. And so on.

There's a reason this is the first time in 17 years the government has shut down. After the 1995-96 closure, both parties recognized it's a stupid tactic. Too bad that lesson had to be relearned this time around.

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Editorial: Government shutdown costs $160 million a day

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the partial government shutdown, now in its third workweek, is how stupendously counterproductive the whole exercise has been.

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